Health benefits or marketing ploy? The pointless ingredients in cat and dog food

Animal nutritionists have rubbished the exotic ingredients found in expensive pet foods as a marketing strategy designed to impress human owners while doing little if any good for their four-legged friends.

Hill’s, a pet food brand owned by Colgate-Palmolive and sold exclusively at vet clinics and pet shops, promotes a ‘science diet’ for pets.

The New Daily asked industry experts to analyse the long list of more than 40 ingredients in two of their products, Healthy Mobility for dogs and Optimal Care for cats.

Both products list beet pulp, cranberries, apples and vitamin C among many other ingredients.

But do these provide our animal companions any health benefits?

Nutritionist Dr Rosemary Stanton said she had no idea why Hill’s pet food contains so many ingredients.

“A strange list,” she told The New Daily.

Popular Hill’s products list more than 40 ingredients. Photo: Hill’s

“I would query why they add ‘colouring’ and beet pulp, which is from sugar beet and contains sugar.

“I noticed they include vitamin C, but dogs make their own!

“The list looks as though it is designed to appeal to the humans who purchase the food.”

She said industry insiders told her that some products sold in pet food shops can cost consumers five to 10 times more than products “with no particular benefits”.

“The important things for owners to note are the amount of protein, fat and fibre. Dogs need protein and fat, but don’t really need a lot of dietary fibre.”

US nutrition professor and co-author of Feed Your Pet Right, Marion Nestle, questioned the nutritional value of the ingredients at the end of the list – apples, broccoli, carrots, cranberries and green peas.

“These would be in such small amounts that their purpose must be marketing, not nutrition,” she said.

The ingredients also include added vitamins and minerals.

Clare Kearney, a holistic animal nutritionist, said she was not confident what are most often synthetic vitamins would provide any real nutritional benefit.